By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Republican candidate, Donald Trump has been elected United States President, capping a remarkable comeback four years after he was voted out of the White House.
Trump, 78, recaptured the White House on Wednesday by securing more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, following a tensed campaign that deepened the polarisation in the country.
The former president’s victory in the swing state of Wisconsin pushed him over the threshold.
“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump said early on Wednesday to a roaring crowd of supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Centre in Florida.
Trump’s political career had appeared to be over after his claims of election fraud led a mob of supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol on 6 January 2021, in a failed bid to overturn his 2020 defeat.
He defeated the Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat who refused to address supporters who had gathered at her alma mater Howard University.
Her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, briefly addressed the crowd after midnight, saying Harris would speak publicly later on Wednesday.
“We still have votes to count,” he said.
Republicans also won a U.S. Senate majority, but neither party appeared to have an edge in the fight for control of the House of Representatives where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Trump prevailed despite persistently low approval ratings.
Impeached twice, he has been criminally indicted four times and found civilly liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
In May, Trump was convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star.
His victory is viewed to have huge implications for U.S. trade and climate change policies, the war in Ukraine, Americans’ taxes and immigration.
His tariff proposals could spark a fiercer trade war with China and U.S. allies, while his pledges to reduce corporate taxes and implement a spate of new cuts could balloon U.S. debt, economists say.
Trump has promised to launch a mass deportation campaign targeting immigrants in the country illegally.
He has said he wants the authority to fire civil servants he views as disloyal. His opponents fear he will turn the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies into political weapons to investigate perceived enemies.
A second Trump presidency could drive a bigger wedge between Democrats and Republicans on issues such as race, gender, what and how children are taught, and reproductive rights.
